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Iran Presidential Candidate Willing to Negotiate with US Based on ‘Step-by-Step' Strategy

A woman walks past a symbolic ballot box for the presidential election in a street in Tehran, Iran June 22, 2024. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
A woman walks past a symbolic ballot box for the presidential election in a street in Tehran, Iran June 22, 2024. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
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Iran Presidential Candidate Willing to Negotiate with US Based on ‘Step-by-Step' Strategy

A woman walks past a symbolic ballot box for the presidential election in a street in Tehran, Iran June 22, 2024. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
A woman walks past a symbolic ballot box for the presidential election in a street in Tehran, Iran June 22, 2024. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters

Three days before Iran’s presidential election campaign ends, conservative candidate Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf signaled readiness to negotiate with the United States using a “step-by-step” strategy.

After meeting religious leaders in the city of Qom, he stated he doesn’t oppose talks with the US, adding however: “We are in a confrontation with the enemy. These negotiations are unequal and have been stalling since former US President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal.”

Iran is currently involved in indirect negotiations with the US, mediated by regional and international parties, to revive the agreement.

“We are aiming for reciprocal steps in negotiations, focusing on the economic interests of our people,” Ghalibaf emphasized.

During a gathering with activists and economists on Saturday evening, he reiterated his foreign policy stance, supporting negotiations as a tool for strategic engagement.

Ghalibaf criticized the politicization of Iran’s economy, calling it detrimental, and linked economic recovery to fostering domestic investment.

He highlighted substantial domestic cash reserves, stressing the importance of attracting these funds for economic growth.

Ghalibaf proposed establishing a financial investment fund to distribute wealth more equitably and alleviate pressures on Iranians.

Iranian presidential elections were called early following the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash last month.

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Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso Rule Out Returning to the ECOWAS Regional Bloc

Head of the military junta in Niger Abdourahamane Tchiani (L) and Interim leader of Burkina Faso Captain Ibrahim Traore (R) salute at the first ever Alliance of Sahel States summit in Niamey, Niger, 06 July 2024. EPA/ISSIFOU DJIBO
Head of the military junta in Niger Abdourahamane Tchiani (L) and Interim leader of Burkina Faso Captain Ibrahim Traore (R) salute at the first ever Alliance of Sahel States summit in Niamey, Niger, 06 July 2024. EPA/ISSIFOU DJIBO
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Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso Rule Out Returning to the ECOWAS Regional Bloc

Head of the military junta in Niger Abdourahamane Tchiani (L) and Interim leader of Burkina Faso Captain Ibrahim Traore (R) salute at the first ever Alliance of Sahel States summit in Niamey, Niger, 06 July 2024. EPA/ISSIFOU DJIBO
Head of the military junta in Niger Abdourahamane Tchiani (L) and Interim leader of Burkina Faso Captain Ibrahim Traore (R) salute at the first ever Alliance of Sahel States summit in Niamey, Niger, 06 July 2024. EPA/ISSIFOU DJIBO

Military junta leaders of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso on Saturday ruled out returning their nations to the West Africa regional bloc whose division could further jeopardize efforts to undo coups and curb violence spreading across the region.
The leaders of the three countries announced that position during their first summit in Niamey, the capital of Niger, after their withdrawal from the West Africa bloc known as ECOWAS in January, The Associated Press said.
They also accused the bloc of failing its mandate and pledged to consolidate their own union — the Alliance of Sahel States — created last year amid fractured relations with neighbors.
The nearly 50-year-old ECOWAS has become “a threat to our states,” said Niger’s military leader, Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani.
"We are going to create an AES of the peoples, instead of an ECOWAS whose directives and instructions are dictated to it by powers that are foreign to Africa,” he said.
The meeting of the three countries that border one another came a day before an ECOWAS summit being held in Nigeria by other heads of state in the region.
Analysts said the two meetings show the deep division in ECOWAS, which had emerged as the top political authority for its 15 member states before the unprecedented decision of the three countries to withdraw their membership.
Despite efforts by ECOWAS to keep its house united, the alliance between the three military junta-led countries will most likely remain outside the regional bloc as tensions continue to grow, said Karim Manuel, an analyst for the Middle East and Africa with the Economist Intelligence Unit.
“Attempts at mediation will likely continue nonetheless, notably led by Senegal’s new administration, but it will not be fruitful anytime soon,” said Manuel.
Formed last September, the Alliance of Sahel States has been touted by the three junta-led countries as a tool to seek new partnerships with countries like Russia and cement their independence from former colonial ruler France , which they accuse of interfering with ECOWAS.
At the meeting in Niamey, Burkina Faso's leader, Capt. Ibrahim Traoré, reaffirmed those concerns and accused foreign countries of exploiting Africa.
“Westerners consider that we belong to them and our wealth also belongs to them. They think that they are the ones who must continue to tell us what is good for our states. This era is gone forever; our resources will remain for us and our populations,” Traoré said.
“The attack on one of us will be an attack on all the other members,” said Mali’s leader, Col. Assimi Goïta.
With Goïta elected as the new alliance's leader, the three leaders signed a pact in committing their countries to creating a regional parliament and a bank similar to those operated by ECOWAS. They also committed to pooling their military resources to fight insecurity in their countries.
At a meeting of regional ministers on Thursday, Omar Alieu Touray, the president of the ECOWAS Commission, said it had not received "the right signals” about any possible return of the three states despite ECOWAS lifting coup-related sanctions that the three nations blamed for their decision to quit the bloc.
It is not only the three countries that are angry at ECOWAS, observers say. The bloc has lost goodwill and support from West African citizens so much that some celebrated the recent spate of coups in the region where citizens have complained of not benefitting from rich natural resources in their countries.
For the most part, ECOWAS is seen as representing only the interests of its members' leaders and not that of the masses, said Oge Onubogu, director of the Africa Program at the Washington-based Wilson Center think tank.